A story about... Rules © 2000 Marg Frey, Bryce Graves-Hurst, Nahoya, Christine Schwab	MARG	BRYCE	CHRISTINE & NAHOYA
			CHRISTINE	BRYCE & NAHOYA
				NAHOYA & BRYCE
			NAHOYA	BRYCE & CHRISTINE
				CHRISTINE & BRYCE

     Although the correlation between the mean cup size of a population and the number and complexity of its cultural rules system has not been proven empirically, it is certainly the case that Ruth's bust was the largest I have ever seen, at least in person, and she observed more rules than anyone else I have ever known. She was Jewish but married to a Catholic, and raised her children in both religions. She worked as a clerk for a Circuit Court Judge. In her spare time, she umpired Little League and wrote an advice column about ettiquette.

     Ruth's children, however, turned out to be a big disappointment to her. None of them inherited her penchant for rules, and all of them rebelled in various ways. Tom set out to break every rule his mother ever mentioned in his presence. He started at an early age and ended up in jail by the time he was 20. Walter just categorically denied the existence of any rules, including the rule of gravity. He spent a lot of time in the emergency room. And Bess, well, she was the introspective one. She decided that rather than all those nitpicky rules to keep track of, there must be only one rule. But she had a lot of trouble figuring out what that one rule must be. She used to stay at the library so long researching the problem that Ruth would have to send one of her brothers after her, which never failed to get them both in trouble.